Wednesday, March 10, 2010

It is 99% sure. Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx will have the buttons on left.

Since Ubuntu 10.04 Alpha 3 came out, nobody knew for sure what was going to happen regarding the location of the buttons for closing, maximizing and minimizing windows.

Somebody put on the internet a photo in which the buttons were on left, then a developer put a photo in which the buttons were on right. Now, if you have Ubuntu 10.04 Alpha 3 up-to-date, the buttons are on left. So, this is official now. The developers are trying to change the identity of Ubuntu from a normal OS (Windows like), to a Mac OS X like OS.

Many Ubuntu users declared that they don't like the new location of the buttons. I think that Windows users are now indirectly targeted with this new version of Ubuntu. If they were only once curious how is the experience on Mac OS X, they might now try Ubuntu (and most of them will like it, for sure). And the Mac OS X users are targeted directly, because they can now have a pretty similar experience on Ubuntu. And for those who don't agree with this change, they can put the buttons back on right, because Ubuntu is very customizable.

What seems quite weird is that the buttons are in the following order: maximize-minimize-close, while Mac OS X has maximize and close buttons inverted. This will cause confusion and had already caused for some users, and for unexperienced users will represent a real problem.

I really hope that the developers will let the buttons like they are now, because I like them like this. What do you think about this? Do you prefer the buttons on left or on right?